Saint Leo University Director of Athletics Francis X. Reidy
announced the appointment of Saint Leo Hall of Fame baseball player
Sean O'Connor as the new head coach for the Lions in December of
2012. O'Connor, a 1983 graduate from Saint Leo College, has
over 19 years of collegiate coaching experience spanning across all
three NCAA divisions, and is the 15th coach in program history.

In his second season coaching the Green and Gold, O’Connor
led the team to a second-straight winning season, which included
three series sweeps, a 12 game win streak, and a broken school
record for consecutive SSC victories with 10. The team finished
with an overall record of 33-16, posting an impressive home record
of 21-6. O’Connor’s squad was honored with several
postseason accolades, including one NCBWA All-America Honorable
Mention, two ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region Selections, two NCBWA
All-South Region First Team Selections, three Daktronics All-South
Region Selections, four All-Sunshine State Conference Selections,
the Sunshine State Conference Freshman of the Year, five SSC Player
of the Week awards, three NCBWA Regional Player of the Week awards
and one NCBWA All-Region Pre-Season First Team selection. The Lions
also saw one player selected in the MLB Amateur Draft (Fran
Whitten, 37th round to the Los Angeles
Angels).

In his first season back in the Green and Gold, O'Connor led the
Lions baseball team to its highest win total (35) since 2001, the
best winning percentage (.710) since 1996, and a second place
finish in the Sunshine State Conference. In addition, O'Connor
first year as a head coach saw six players be named to the
All-Sunshine State Conference Teams, two of which were first team
selections.

"I am very excited to have Sean O'Connor back on campus, and for
him to lead our baseball program," Reidy said. "He brings
professional baseball scouting experience, collegiate coaching
experience at three different levels, a connection to our alumni,
and an unquestioned passion for Saint Leo that separated him from
the great pool of candidates who were part of this search
process."

O'Connor has invested nearly two decades as a college baseball
coach, having coached in all three divisions of the NCAA. His
coaching career commenced in 1984 as the pitching coach at
Framingham State, and spanned through the likes of Brown
University, Assumption College and Providence College.

"I am excited and honored to be the head coach at Saint Leo
University," O'Connor said. "I am coming back to a place that
I am very proud to have been a student-athlete."

A native of Framingham, Mass., O'Connor also has extensive
experience in the Major League Baseball ranks where he served as a
scout for both the Colorado Rockies and San Francisco Giants before
being named a Southeast Regional Supervisor for the Seattle
Mariners. His decision-making as a scout has played an
important role in the drafting of top-notch players such as Buster
Posey, Jonathan Sanchez, Emmanuel Burriss, Ben Copeland, Euenio
Valez and Zach Wheeler.

"We found ourselves in an interesting mid-year transition, and I
felt it was important to select a coach who was not only passionate
about Saint Leo Baseball, but was also part of a winning culture
here at Saint Leo for the current team members," Reidy
continued. "We also wanted to find someone who possessed the
recruiting connections, evaluation skills, and experience to tackle
the challenge of losing 15 players to graduation this spring."

Through all of his baseball experience, O'Connor's most glowing
accolade came in 2009 when he joined the ranks of Saint Leo elite
with a nomination into the Hall of Fame. His four-years as a
student-athlete at then-Saint Leo College were some of the most
successful in program history, where he was on a Monarch's squad
that won 121 games. O'Connor appeared in 63 games during his
career, which stands second all-time, after starting for the Lions
his first two seasons and then switching roles as closer his junior
and senior campaigns.

O'Connor, who has been scouting in the Southeast for the last
several years, will be able to utilize his current network, along
with his coaching and playing roots from the Northeast, in order to
help lead the program back to the destination it was for baseball
players back in the 1970's and 80's.

"I look forward to working with our players, coaching staff,
alumni and administration," O'Connor concluded. "I hope to
continue making our baseball program an organization that we can
all be proud of, on and off the field."